Pakistan suspends policemen applauded by locals for killing blasphemy suspect

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities on Friday suspended police officers who opened fire and killed a blasphemy suspect in the south of the country earlier this week, where after the murder, residents welcomed him with applause and showered him with rose petals.

The death of Shah Nawaz, a doctor from Sindh province who went into hiding after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad and posting blasphemous content on social media, was the second such apparent extrajudicial killing by police within a week, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

Local police chief Niaz Khoso said Nawaz was accidentally killed when officers in the town of Mirpur Khas signaled two men on a motorcycle to stop on Wednesday night. Instead of stopping, the men opened fire and tried to escape, prompting police to fire back.

One of the suspects fled on a motorcycle while the other, Nawaz, who had gone into hiding two days earlier, was killed.

Then, videos emerged on social media showing people throwing rose petals and handing bouquets of flowers to police officers who were allegedly involved in the shooting. In another video, allegedly filmed at a police station, officers wore garlands of flowers around their necks and posed for photos.

Sindh Home Minister Zia Ul Hassan suspended the officers, including Deputy Inspector General Javaid Jiskani, who appears in both videos, the minister’s spokesman Sohail Jokhio said.

Senior police officer Choudhary Asad, who had earlier said the shooting had nothing to do with the blasphemy case and that the police came to know about Nawaz’s identity only after his body was taken for post-mortem, was also suspended.

Nawaz’s family members say they were later attacked by a mob that snatched his body from them and burned it. Nawaz’s killing in Mirpur Khas came a day after Islamists in the nearby town of Umerkot staged a protest demanding his arrest. The mob also burned down Nawaz’s clinic on Wednesday, officials said.

Doctors Wake Up Movement, a group that advocates for the rights of healthcare workers and medical students in Pakistan, said Nawaz saved lives as a doctor.

“But he was not even given the opportunity to present his case in court, he was killed by the police and his body was burned by the mob,” the group reported on the X social media platform.

Provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon ordered an investigation.

Although mob killings of blasphemy suspects are common, extrajudicial killings by police are rare in Pakistan. Blasphemy accusations—sometimes even just rumors—can trigger riots and mob attacks that can turn into killings.

A week before Nawaz’s assassination, an officer opened fire in a police station in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, fatally wounding Syed Khan, another suspect arrested on blasphemy charges.

Khan was arrested after officers rescued him from an angry mob who claimed he had insulted the prophet of Islam. But he was killed by a policeman, Mohammad Khurram, who was quickly arrested. However, the tribe and the murdered man’s family later said they had pardoned the officer.

Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures may be punishable by death — although the authorities have not yet carried out the death sentence for blasphemy.